Is Oklahoma State Trying To Schedule a Big Non-Conference Game For 2018?

The Keondre Wudtee Special is what they should dub Labor Day weekend 2018. That will presumably be the true freshman’s first start (again, presumably because that is a long time from now), and it will apparently not be against Central Michigan anymore.

Hate to be a juicy rumor killer but #okstate has not cancelled the final game of the CMU series. It's now set for 2022 instead of 2018.

— Kevin Klintworth (@KKlintworth) September 15, 2016

In 2017 OSU plays Tulsa at home, at South Alabama (?!?) and at Pitt for its three non-conference games. In 2018 it was supposed to play Central Michigan at home, South Alabama at home and Boise State at home. As Kevin Klintworth noted, though, that CMU game got flipped to 2022 and will link up with the Arizona State game that year instead which leaves an open spot in the 2018 schedule.

Some speculation here: Why would you move a game that is roughly 720 days away if you didn’t already have a bigger and better game to take its place? There are reasons I suppose, but that just doesn’t seem like something Oklahoma State (or Central Michigan) would do. So does OSU have something bigger in mind?

That 2018 Central Michigan game was supposed to land on Labor Day weekend which as we all know has been a nice little kick-start to the season. You have the Advocare Classic in Dallas which OSU has participated in before (against FSU), the Camping World Kickoff (FSU-Ole Miss this year) and a host of other big boy games (Texas-Notre Dame, LSU-Wisconsin at Lambeau).

OSU won’t be playing in the Advocare Classic in Dallas unless a team drops out because those are set which is a shame because that game apparently pays $6 million which is the exact same amount your entire conference gets if you make it to the College Football Playoff.

September 2, 2017: Michigan Wolverines vs. Florida Gators
September 1, 2018: LSU Tigers vs. Miami Hurricanes
August 31, 2019: Oregon Ducks vs. Auburn Tigers

Nor will it play in the Camping World Kickoff.

September 1, 2018: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Louisville Cardinals
September 2, 2019: Florida Gators vs Miami Hurricanes

But it seems like it is planning something bigger than being beaten on a last-second illegal hail mary against CMU. Here’s my wish list for future home-and-home exchanges.